Hey folks. I'm breaking radio silence to make a couple of announcements about other journals.

• First, do you read Viv? Well, her journal has moved. Check it out here.


• Second, do you read Pamie? Well, if you do, don't miss this announcement. Thanks for all the fun, Pamie. I'll miss your great stories.


• Finally, Thoughts from Moz has made the "Blogs of Note" list on the Blogger front page. I am the designer/administrator for Thoughts from Moz, which you may know is the page of a former student of mine. The site has received over 1500 hits since it went on the "Blogs of Note" list. Wow!

In other news, things are going fine around here. I've been doing the capable adult thing: taking care of stuff that needs to be taken care of, making phone calls that need to be made, getting things in the mail, shopping for bathtubs, sinks, and toilets. Of course, I'm also making CD mixes like a madwoman, so don't get too worried about me.

I'll be back soon. In the meantime, you can reach me here.

I just wanted to stop in and say happy summer solstice. Today is the longest day of the year. Looks like there was a beautiful sunrise out on Salisbury Plain this morning.

Not Quite Lucid

It is finally summer and I am reading Pride and Prejudice, listening to the Dave Matthews Band, and eating Jelly Belly jellybeans (favorite flavors: hot cinnamon, peppermint, tangerine). I'm also taking care of a bunch of medical appointments and checkups. I'm going to the gym again. I don't have any vacations planned, but I do have tickets for James Taylor at Tanglewood, very soon. And I just got back from a nice little weekend trip up to Massachusetts.

But that's not really why I'm writing.

I know I haven't updated Raspberry World much lately. I'm in a dry spell. Feeling taciturn. Whatever.

Sometimes when I'm feeling like this, I force myself to update anyway. But what's the point? If I'm not having fun with this right now, then now is probably a pretty good time to take a little vacation from it. It's not my job, thank goodness.

I expect I'll be back before long. I just need a break. In the meantime, I'll be updating my music log from time to time.

Later.

Susie

Today's big excitement happened when I went to the Post Office. I discovered this new stamp! I love it!

Hooray! Yvonne is back! She is an intern at my company; last summer I was her mentor. This year I won't be working as closely with her, but our offices are still very close and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other. I'm so pleased!

I just noticed that among all the journals and weblogs I listed this morning, nary a one was written by a man. Hm. I'm not sure what it means, if anything. In the past I have been a regular reader of some journals written by men, but at the moment I'm not. Go figure.

On Friday after work I called the local cable company (again) to ask them (again) if cable internet service was available yet. We've been calling every month or so for over a year. But this time it was different, because this time they said yes! So of course I signed us up right away. We should be hooked up with a cable modem within a week or two, and I am simply giddy with anticipation!

I like a Sunday morning when I have new journal entries to read. Here's one of my favorites from today: "Send the anger down through your feet!" from The Ceaseless Torture of Adulthood. It's good advice for everyone!

The journals I check on my regular route are the following:

• First Person Particular, by Viv (who is now updating on Saturdays and Tuesdays)
  
• Shelleyness, by Shelley (check out the recent one on the Chaps Man for serious weirdness)
  
• Lucidity, by Anna
  
• Squishy, by Pamie
  
• (parenthesis), by Lynda
  
• Bobfett, by Dana
  
• Words Diminish, by Dora
  
• Who I Am, by Amy
  
• When In Doubt, Use Parsley, by Amy (a different one)
  
• The Ceaseless Torture of Adulthood, by Marel Trout (which I've already mentioned today)
  
• Gracie's World, by Gracie (updated once a month with an entire month's worth of entries)

And just to be fair, these are the weblogs I read on a regular basis:

• Everything Here is Mine, by Alicia
  
• Kiss the Rain, by Maria (currently on vacation, both the weblog and the girl)
  
• Wockerjabby, by Rabi
  
• Tapestry, by Lucy
  
• Thoughts from Moz, by Rebekah (a former student from my days teaching at Penn State)

It's not as much to keep up with as it looks like. Very few of these pages are updated daily, so it only takes me about 2 minutes to scroll through all of them on my favorites list. But it's interesting, keeping up with other people's lives like this.

I wonder who reads my page? Want to write and tell me? (Or just sign the guestbook...)

Look,
I understand too little too late
I realize there are things you say and do
You can never take back
But what would you be if you didn't even try?
You have to try

So after a lot of thought
I'd like to reconsider...
Please...
If it's not too late,
Make it a cheeseburger.

Lyle Lovett, Here I Am

It's Friday. It's a beautiful day. The weekend is upon us.

June is a big birthday month for me. Among my friends and family, 8 people have June birthdays. In fact, there are three people who were born on June 13. So it's a happy month. A happy birthday month!

According to the weather report, we are supposed to have 7 days of gorgeous sunny weather for the next week. Today it's beautiful out -- blue sky, big white fluffy clouds, and 75 degrees. It's amazing how good weather can lift my mood. I think I'm living in the wrong state!

I've been drinking a lot of root beer recently. I'm not sure why, but I crave it almost every day. Usually I am a water drinker, or ginger ale. But root beer? Huh.

Okay, I realize this isn't much of an update. Just wanted to say hi.

I used to think
As birds take wing
They sing through life so why can't we?
You cling to this
You claim the best
If this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain

R.E.M., I'll Take the Rain

When I pulled into the Post Office parking lot this morning, the six parking spaces were occupied by six SUVs. SIX!!! One of them vacated just as I pulled in, so I parked alongside the five remaining SUVs. My little Subaru Impreza wagon looked quite out of place.

We have guests from out of town -- my father and my little brother and sister. It's been raining a lot but we're having fun despite the weather. We've been to Kathy John's and Modern Apizza, and if the weather clears up tomorrow we may try Mystic Seaport.

In celebration of my first year with a weblog, the journal is updated.

Just a quickie... The Raspberry World weblog (what you are reading now) was a year old yesterday. Whoo-hoo! I'll be doing a little something to celebrate later this weekend, so stay tuned...